Another Newsie Bites the Dust
by ShortAtntionSpaz
Summary: Haven't you ever wondered how a bunch of "street rats" learned how to dance? read and review, and I'll give you a gold star!
1. An interesting beginning

Those poor, poor children! She thought to herself. Gazing out the window of the carriage she was riding in, Miss Dora Fedora thought to herself, "I bet they don't have any skills… no one has taught them anything!"

She sat there, fretting to herself about the great injustice done to these poor deprived street children, when she realized something. Some of these boys might just prove to be… graceful. They certainly looked as if they had strength… Perhaps if they were formally trained… A thought struck her. There was something she could do for these poor, deprived street rats. She could teach them culture. She could teach them grace. She could teach them… the art of dance. 

She smiled to herself as she pulled a small notebook and a pencil from her satchel. She had plans to make. There were a lot of supplies that she would need. However many supplies she needed, it did not matter, she had more than enough money. She was one of the richest women in New York.

The next day was when it all started. Packages of every shape and size started showing up at her door. She smiled as another deliveryman rang the doorbell with another parcel. 

She could hear the clear deep voice of Henderson, her butler, drift up the stairs. "Many thanks. Mind the rhododendron on the way out."

Her stern eyes flipped back and forth across the crowd. She noticed an orphan of the street, but this one was not what she needed. He was not strong enough. The crutch he held securely under his arm would prevent him from accomplishing the tasks she had. 

"Keep going." She ordered the driver in a fierce voice.

There was a good candidate. He was tall, and lean, and by the way he carried himself, he looked strong and sure of himself. 

"I want that one!" she hissed to her driver, pointing to a tall young man in a black cowboy hat, and a red bandanna tied around his neck.

The man sitting next to her grinned, showing off grayed teeth. He pulled a tranquilizer gun out from under the seat, and put it to his shoulder. After cleaning the dust from the scope with his shirtsleeve, he looked through it, and aimed.

Suddenly, a man dressed in a brown uniform bearing the letters "NPA" stepped in between the man and his target. 

"Halt!" he ordered.

When the woman opened her mouth to protest, the uniformed man said, "I'm from the NPA, that's newsie protection agency, ma'am. That's a direct violation of code 7-2, section C. No firearms of any sort are to be used against them. It's about the only right they have. This is your official warning." He handed the woman an envelope that was addressed to her, saluted, and walked away.

With a sigh of disappointment, she told the driver, "I guess we shall have to do this the hard way." Then she leaned back and mumbled something into the back of the wagon as they set off on a slow pace towards the young man. 

Someone peeked out if the side of the wagon, and just as they were slowly passing him by, two pairs of hands burst out of the canvas cover, and yanked him off of his feet, and into the wagon.

Skittery grimaced as he read over the day's headlines. They were horrible. How was he expected to sell these papes? No one was even paying any attention to him. With a sigh, he lifted a crisp paper over his head, and was about to yell out the headline, when a hand clasped itself over his mouth, and pulled him into an alley. He dropped his papers in surprise, and flailed his arms, but it did no good. A minute or so later, a covered wagon slowly drove out of the shadows, and turned the corner, before disappearing out of sight.

A carriage burst around the corner, splattering muddy water all over Specs. Grumbling to himself, he brushed the excess water from his clothes. He set his papers down on a crate at the opening of an alley, and removed his glasses as he muttered to himself, 

"Da only puddle in da city, and I'se gotta be walkin' right right by it while someone drives too close to da curb! Things can't possibly get any worse!" He stated as he carefully wiped his lenses with a dry patch of his shirt.

Someone grabbed him from behind, and it surprised him so much, that he dropped his glasses. He was dragged backwards, into the alley. The last thing he saw before he was blindfolded, was someone carefully wiping off his glasses, and a few seconds later, he could feel them being shoved into his pocket.

Snoddy and Snitch sat slumped against the wall, arguing over where they should sell next. The early morning rush of Second Street had already gone by.

Before they could agree on another selling spot, something caught their eyes.

"A dollar!" they both yelled, as they scampered to their feet to chase after it. I sudden gust of wind blew the paper money into an alley. Not looking at anything but their prize, they were both caught off guard when the burlap bags went over their heads.

With a snicker, the gray-toothed man rolled up his string, and shoved it into his pocket, not bothering to untie the dollar from the end of it.

"Finally!" Mush thought to himself, "A bit of luck." There was a group of businessmen that would all buy a paper, since he had encountered the same group just last week. When they were only about 20 feet from them, a covered wagon stopped in between him and the crowd. If the wagon had come any closer, they would have ran over his feet, since he was already leaning on the wall. Before he even realized that there was someone in the back, strong arms reached out and pulled him into the wagon. As he felt the wagon take off, he got a quick glimpse around the wagon before he was blindfolded. What he saw, terrified him. On one side of the wagon, sat a few other prisoners. What terrified him was the fact that he knew each one of them. Then he was tossed into the pile with his bound and gagged friends

Racetrack kicked the bench in front of him. He lost again. He sold off his last pape, shoved the penny into his pocket, and headed for the door.

"Hey, Kid!" he heard a voice call out. "I gots a good tip on tomorrow's race!" called the voice from the edge of an alley.

Curious, Race walked into the shadows of the alley, and asked, "'Scuse me?"

Before he could locate the source of the voice, a hand clamped over his mouth, and he was being tied up. He tried to struggle out of the strong grip, but it was impossible. He was blindfolded before he was dragged deeper into the alley, and he could feel himself being hoisted into some sort of wagon.

~That man is following me!~ Kid Blink thought to himself as he walked down the street, and it made him mad. He turned the corner into an alley, and ducked behind a crate. As soon as the man walked past his crate, Blink jumped out at him, pummeling him with his fists. His third punch knocked the guy out. Keeping his gaze on the fallen man, Blink Backed out of the alley. He gave a short yell as a burlap bag was pulled over his head, but someone covered his mouth through the bag, cutting off his shout.

"Local business the victim of arson!" Bumlets yelled out to a passing group of people.

After the group had passed, Dutchy asked, "What really happened, Bums?" as he leafed through his own paper.

"Says someone was burning trash in da alley next to it" Bumlets explained with a smile as he pointed to the article he was referring to.

A shadow fell across the paper they were looking at. They both looked up to see a nun standing over them.

It wasn't a nun they had ever seen before. This nun was very tall, and had a square face with a cleft chin that stuck way out underneath a narrow smile with graying teeth.

"Are you hungry?" the nun asked them.

Nodding furiously, Dutchy answered, "I'se always hungry!"

"Yeah!" Bumlets agreed.

"Follow me." The nun instructed, motioning for them to follow.

Grinning at each other, they both followed the broad shouldered, black clad figure down the street, and into an alley.

"There's nothin' here." Bumlets observed right before someone grabbed him from behind.

As the wagon pulled out of the alley, the driver tossed a nun's habit over the side of the wagon, and onto a crate. The woman, still sitting in the front seat, grinned, and clapped her hands in anticipation. The grin was still plastered on her face, a long while after that, when they pulled through some tall iron gates that blocked off a very long driveway that lead up to a large impressive, fortress-like house. 


	2. Where are we?

As soon as the gates opened, a large crowd of servants hurried outside the door, and arranged themselves in a straight line on the lawn. Someone stepped forward to assist the woman from her seat, and around 15 others scurried to the back of the wagon to lift out the ten young men that were still bound and gagged back there.

As soon as they were all carried into the plush setting room, the woman instructed, "You may remove their blindfolds."

Each one of them blinked, trying to get their eyes adjusted to the sudden bright sunlight that was pouring into the room through a large picture window.

At first Jack thought it was a joke. But as soon as he caught Mush's eye, and read the terror there, he realized this was very serious.

Mush felt like crying. They even got Bumlets, who he was sure hadn't done anything to anyone. The same thing with Dutchy, and Snoddy. Well, it was the same with almost everyone, with the possible exception of Jack. He was sure everyone else was trying to figure out the very same thing, when a woman started talking.

"You ten young men are extremely lucky. I have chosen you to be part of something very important. You shall be staying here for the time being, as I shall be bettering your pathetic lives." She said with a shudder,  " I am sure you have some questions for me… You may remove their gags now." She said, nodding to the servants, still standing behind the captives.

As soon as his gag was removed, Jack's anger exploded from his mouth. "Who do you think you are, we don't need anything from you, whoever you are!"

After batting her eyes in surprise at the sudden verbal attack, she smiled at him, and said, "Oh, yes, I almost forgot, my name is Dora Fedora, that will me Miss Dora to you."

Without listening to her whole little speech, Kid Blink looked over at Mush, who still looked like he was going to cry. "Are you alright, Mush, did they hurt you?"

"I am sure you will need to discuss this exciting occasion amongst yourselves, so I shall allow you to congregate in your rooms." Miss Dora told them. "Untie them… except for him." Dora said, motioning to Jack. Leave his wrists bound, he has an anger problem. When you are done, show them where they will be staying. Oh yes, boys, supper will be promptly at six, I shall send someone to fetch you, but you need to be ready." Then she waltzed from the room, leaving the young men with a handful of servants that scurried around the room, untying them.

"Come this way." A pale middle-aged woman timidly ordered. She was dressed in a very proper black and white maid's uniform. 

Unsure of what else they could do, all of the newsies followed her out of the room, and up a grand staircase, down a long hallway, around a corner, and through a set of double doors. Behind these doors was a room with comfortable looking furniture, and a pool table on one side of the room, a card table on the other side, quite a few shelves of books, some large cupboards, and doors all around the exterior of the room.

"This is your commons room, I shall let you figure out your sleeping arrangements amongst yourselves." The timid woman announced quietly before she retreated back out into the hallway, and shut the doors behind her.

Snoddy rushed to untie Jack as soon as the door shut behind the woman.

Most of them moved to sit down to think about what just happened. 

"I don't get it, why kidnap a bunch a 'street rats'?" Specs asked the rest of them.

Shaking his head, Snitch commented. "Didn't you hear that woman, Miss something or other, she said she chose us to be a part of something important."

Before anyone else could comment on anything else, the double doors they came through, opened again. Everyone looked up with surprise, ready to pounce if attacked. They all relaxed when a petite young woman walked through the door. She smiled at all the boys, who were staring at her, and motioned to someone behind her. As she stepped into the room, another girl followed her in. 

"Hi guys." The first young woman said as they walked across the room, and sat down on one of the cushiony couches. "I'm Rachel." She told them.

The second girl, taller, and sturdier looking than the first, folded her feet under her as she sat next to her friend.  "I'm Amanda. So what did Dora tell you so far?"

Racetrack cleared his throat, and told them, "I guess we're supposed to be part of some big experiment…."

With a laugh, Amanda told him, "Miss Dora exaggerates a bit."

Grinning at Amanda, Rachel told them, "She's a bit crazy too."

"Yeah." Amanda continued, "She wants to teach you guys how to be 'productive members of society', and how to dance."

"What do you mean by 'dance'?" Blink asked them.

"Possibly ballroom dancing, but there will be more of an emphasis on tap and ballet."

"What?" Blink exploded. "I aint gonna wear no stinkin' tu tu!" he said, shaking his head defiantly.

Barely suppressing a laugh, Rachel explained, "Men don't wear tu tus."

"I will not dance!" Skittery said with a shudder.

"Let me put it this way…" Amanda started. "Humor her, you get free food, free clothing, free rent, and whatever else she gives you, until you can escape."

Rachel nodded, "Seriously, if you go along with it, she will think you are content, and trust you a bit more. You can only get out of here when she trusts you enough to let you go wherever you want to without sending someone after you."

"Are you trapped here too?" Jack asked them.

With a shake of her head, Rachel said, "Not really… our parents send us to Miss Dora for dance lessons, and she just likes to see young people around the house, so she gave us our own rooms."

"It's a lot more interesting than being at home!" Amanda muttered. "My parents expect me to do cross-stitch all day, or polish the silver."

"Here, we get to do whatever we wish to do, and there is an extensive library, and we can play croquet… or do just about anything." Rachel told them.

"How do you play crow-cake?" Race asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

Giggling, Amanda corrected, "Croquet… it's a game you play with balls and mallets. We'll show you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Skittery asked "How long we gotta be here?"

Amanda's smile faltered, and she commented with a serious expression, " I'm not sure, Miss Dora wants to keep you for a year or so, I think."

"WHAT?" the all yelled, some of them jumping to their feet.

"Don't worry, we'll help you." Rachel tried to reassure, before she started concentrating, and biting her lip.

"Between the two of us, plus Katie and Kennyon, we'll figure out how to get you out of here." Amanda said, nodding furiously.

"Whoa!" Snoddy called from the other side of the room He had opened up the door to one of the bedrooms, and stood in the doorway, staring into the room.

The rest of the guys rushed over and looked in over his shoulder. What they saw was a room beautifully decorated with a nautical theme. There were round windows that looked like they had been pulled right from the side of a ship, and the furniture was a mixture of deep polished wood, and woven rope. The pictures on the walls were of ships with full sails, and a great view of the sea, and there was even a ship fitted into a glass bottle on the mantle. There were 2 beds that had part of a ships steering wheel as the headboard, and blue bedspreads on them.

"Wow." Blink breathed. "I want this room." He declared.

"Me too!" Mush piped, as he pushed through the crowd into the room with Kid Blink.

"Jack!" Racetrack called from the doorway of the next room, "You'll like this one."

Curious, Jack went over to see what Race was talking about. He let out a laugh as soon as he walked into the room. 

"Who wouldda thought?" Jack wondered, as he looked all around the western themed room. The beds were made from range fences and Conestoga wagon wheels. Someone had painstakingly painted a sunset on one of the walls, and there was a coat rack that was painted to look like a cactus. There was a chair made from a saddle, and a mirror on the wall that was framed with a rope.

"I claim this section of Santa Fe." Jack told Race.

"That makes this section mine, right?." Racetrack asked him.

"Yeah, I think everyone else is claiming their own rooms now too." Jack said with a nod.

Specs turned around and around, trying to look at the whole room at once. He had never seen so many books in his life. There were bookcases all over the room, just filled with books. There was a fireplace over to the side of the room, and two very comfortable looking chairs were sitting across from each other in front of it. Skittery had heard that leather furniture existed, but he had never seen it before. He sunk into a chair by the fireplace, and sighed.

"It feels like I'se sittin on a cloud." Skittery commented, closing his eyes in thought.

Dutchy pushed the next door open, and grinned. "Look Bums, dis one's got hammocks!"

"Lemmie see!" Bumlets walked into the room, and looked around.

The two hammocks were hanging from beams in the ceiling, and hung about 4 feet from the ground. The walls were paneled with wood, so the felt like they were encased in a treasure box of some sort. The pictures on the walls were mainly of different woodland creatures, and plant life, and there were great, towering plants in huge flowerpots.

Dutchy and Bumlets claimed the room by climbing into the hammocks, and not allowing anyone else to test them out… at least not yet, they promised everyone that they could try later.

"I guess dis one's ours." Snoddy said to Snitch, as he tuned the handle on the door, and opened it for Snitch.

Snitch let out a laugh. "You go right ahead, I think I'll take the next one." He told Snoddy.

Snoddy snickered, "Yeah, I guess I will too, da washroom'll be too busy during the day iffen I wanna take a nap."

They closed the washroom door, and went to the next one. It opened into a medieval styled room. The two beds were about 5 feet from the floor, and made to look like gray painted wooden castles. There was a sword and shield mounted on one wall, and a suit of armor standing in one corner.

"Ohhh" they both gasped, walking around the room, examining its contents.

As they were trying out their new beds, Amanda came skipping in. "I left something in here…" she said as she walked over to the suit of armor. She pulled open a flap in it's back, and stuck her whole arm in, like she was reaching for the knight's feet. After feeling around for a minute, her face lit up. "Here it is!" she said in triumph, as she pulled out a velvet pouch with a drawstring.

"What's in there?" Snoddy asked her.

"It's my journal." She smiled at him.

"Can I read it?" asked Snitch mischievously.

"Nope." She answered.

"Please?" Snitch pleaded melodramatically.

"Let me think about it…" she said with an intense look of concentration on her face. "Hmmm… NO!" she smirked.

"Why, what's so embarrassing that's in there?" he asked, slowly moving towards her, as she started backing out of the room. 

"Nothing, I just want to pester you." She said, her eyes flashing merrily.

He lunged forward, and tried to grab it out of her hands. She jumped out of the way, and dodged a second lunge. The third time he tried, she fought back. Using her shoulder like a battering ram, she knocked him to the floor, but lost her balance and fell on him. He tried again to seize the pouch from her hands, and they ended up rolling around on the floor, laughing, and wrestling. She had a tight grip on the pouch, but Snitch, sitting in her, pinning her to the floor, opened the pouch, and slid the small book from it. 

Holding it out of her reach, he opened the cover, and flipped through the pages. 

"It's blank!" He informed her.

"Of course it is, I haven't written in it yet! Do you really think I would leave the one I am writing in currently, where someone could find it?" she giggled. "Now do you suppose you could get off of me so I can breathe freely again?"

"Well, the thing is, I'm quite comfortable here." He said, squirming in his seat, and trying to settle himself more comfortably on her stomach.

Rachel had been sitting on the same couch she was on before Amanda got up to get what she wanted. She had been trying to suppress a laugh ever since Amanda came backing into the room. Her eyes were watering from the effort.

"Rachel!" Amanda gasped, "Help me!"

Jumping up from her seat, Rachel looked at them, trying to formulate a plan of attack. Then she ran at Snitch, and tackled him, knocking him over, and leaving Amanda with two sitting sprawled across her, instead of one, since she couldn't knock him off of Amanda.

"Help!" Rachel gasped, as Snitch started tickling her.

"I can't breathe!" Both girls yelled at once.

All that noise had caught the attention of the other guys, and they came out from their rooms to stand around them laughing.

Out of breath from laughing so hard, Rachel sputtered, "Help me!" to the closest person, who happened to be Mush.

Never able to resist the plea of help from a lady, Mush grabbed her, easily cradling her slight frame in his arms. He carried her a ways away from the group, and set her on her feet. 

Still gasping for breath, she put her hand on his arm to steady herself. "Thanks, you're wonderful."

"It was nothing." He insisted, slightly embarrassed at her gratitude.

"What's your name, huh?" she asked him with a smile.

"Dey call me Mush." He said with a nod.

"Well, thank you Mush." She said before dazzling him with a grin. 

"Get offa me tubby, or I'll get you in your sleep!" Amanda yelled at Snitch, who still had her pinned to the floor. "You're hurtin me!"

Dutchy stepped forward and tapped Snitch on the shoulder. "Snitch, that's enough." Dutchy told him, as he held out his hand to help Snitch up. "Ya hear what she's saying, and you should never hurt a girl."

"Awww man…." Snitch sighed as he grabbed Dutchy's hand, and pulled himself to his feet, then walked over to where Skittery was setting up a game of pool.

Crouching down next to Amanda, Dutchy asked her, "You alright?"

"Never better, I always wanted a cracked rib. Asked for one for Christmas once, never did get it till now." She said as she rubbed her stomach.

"Next time, pinch him right here" he said, motioning to the inside of his thigh near his knee. "Or here. Dat hurts real bad too." He said, pointing to the underside of his upper arm. "If that doesn't work, nothing will."

"I'll have to remember that." Amanda giggled as she sat up. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Dutchy." He said. "What's yours?"

"Amanda." She said, as they shook hands.

"Does anyone call you Mandy?" he asked.

"Never, ever. I won't let anyone call me that. It's Amanda. Just about the only exception to the rule is my friend Katie. She calls me either 'Manda' or 'Manders' sometimes, but she earned that, and no one else is allowed that privilege."

With a laugh at her serious expression, Dutchy said, "Alright, Amanda it is then."

The double doors opened slowly, revealing a man dressed in a suit.

"Hiya Henderson!" Amanda piped, waving at him from her place on the floor.

"Good evening Miss Amanda, Miss Rachel" He answered, his eyes sparkling. As stiff and solemn as he usually was, there was just something about Amanda, Rachel, and the other two girls that were usually running around with them, that made him smile. "Where's the other half of your usual entourage?"

"Katie and Kennyon are around here somewhere, I haven't seen them in awhile. I'd try checking with Mrs. Roberts." Rachel suggested to him.

Mrs. Roberts was the head cook of the household, and like Henderson, She had a soft spot for the group of girls that had the run of the house.

"Oh yes, I had almost forgotten… I wanted to inform all of you that supper will be served in precisely fifteen minutes." Henderson said before nodding curtly, and walking out of the room.

"We only have fifteen minutes!" Rachel exclaimed to Amanda.

"Hurry up guys, wash your hands!" Amanda prompted, in attempts to user them to the door.

"Why? It aint Sunday." Snitch said as he looked at her like she was crazy.

"Miss Dora has certain… expectations." Rachel said with a serious expression on her face.

"Come on, what would happen if we showed up for supper with dirty hands?" Skittery asked, crossing his arms with annoyance.

Amanda barely got the words, "You would get no food, for one thing." Out of her mouth, before everyone was rushing for the washroom

When they had all washed their hands, and passed Amanda and Rachel's rigorous inspection, they were all sitting on the couches in the commons room.

"Never use your fingers for anything. If you need to push something onto your fork, use your knife." Rachel instructed. "If soup is served, do not, under any circumstance, slurp. The same goes with your drink."

Racetrack raised his hand, and when Rachel looked at him, he asked, "Why do we need to do all this stuff?"

"Trust me, etiquette instructions with Miss Dora are painful." Rachel told him with a shudder. "Never forget to put your napkin on your lap! I learned that one the hard way. If you don't know what to do, watch Amanda, Katie, Kennyon, or me. You'll meet the other two at supper."

The double doors were flung open, and two girls rushed in the door. 

"Or you can meet them now." Amanda said as she went over to where the two newcomers were standing.

"Manders!" one of them exclaimed, as she clapped her hands in excitement. Her dark brown hair swung back and forth as she jumped up and down.

"Katie!"  Amanda copied her with a grin "Hiya Kennyon." She said before she stood between them putting an arm around each of them. "Ya gots ta meet the guys… That's Racetrack, Dutchy, the cowboy's Jack, that's Bumlets, Kid Blink, Skittery, Specs, Mush, Snitch, ya gotta watch out for him, and Snoddy…." Amanda said, motioning to each of them.

"Snotty?" Kennyon snickered.

"Snoddy!" Snoddy corrected, enunciating the "D" sound, "It's got D's, not T's"

Still snickering, Kennyon said, "Sure, I got it."

"Manda, dinner's in two minutes." Katie told Amanda.

"Then we better get going." Amanda said back. "Come on guys"


End file.
